Mars Express mission extended (Forwarded)

ESA News
http://www.esa.int

22 September 2005

Mars Express mission extended

ESA's Mars Express mission has been extended by one Martian year, or
about 23 months, from the beginning of December 2005.

The decision, taken on 19 September by ESA's Science Programme
Committee, allows the spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet to continue
building on the legacy of its own scientific success.

Co-ordinated from the beginning with the Mars science and exploration
activities of other agencies, Mars Express has revealed an increasingly
complex picture of Mars.

Since the start of science operations in early 2004, new aspects of Mars
are emerging day by day, thanks to Mars Express data. These include its
present-day climate system, and its geological 'activity' and diversity.
Mars Express has also started mapping water in its various states.

In building up a global data set for composition and characteristics of
the surface and atmosphere, Mars Express has revealed that volcanic and
glacial processes are much more recent than expected.

It has confirmed the presence of glacial processes in the equatorial
regions, and mapped water and carbon dioxide ice, either mixed or
distinct, in the polar regions. Through mineralogical analysis, it found
out that large bodies of water, such as lakes or seas, might not have
existed for a long period of time on the Martian surface.

Mars Express has also detected methane in the Martian atmosphere. This,
together with the possible detection of formaldehyde, suggests either
current volcanic activity on Mars, or, more excitingly, that there are
current active 'biological' processes.

This hypothesis may be reinforced by the fact that Mars Express saw that
the distribution of water vapour and methane, both ingredients for life,
substantially overlap in some regions of the planet.

Furthermore, the mission detected aurorae for the first time on the Red
Planet. It has made global mapping of the density and pressure of the
atmosphere between 10 and 100 kilometres altitude, and studied
atmospheric escape processes in the upper layers of the atmosphere. This
is contributing to our understanding of the weather and climate
evolution of the planet.

There is still much to be discovered by the extraordinary set of
instruments on board Mars Express. First, the 23-month extension will
enable the Mars Express radar, MARSIS, to restart Martian night-time
measurements in December this year.

MARSIS will continue its subsurface studies mainly in the search for
liquid and frozen water. By combining subsurface, surface and
atmospheric data, Mars Express will provide an unprecedented global
picture of Mars and, in particular, its water.

So far, the High Resolution Stereo Camera has imaged only 19% of the
Martian surface at high resolution. In the extended phase, it will be
able to continue the 3D high-resolution colour imaging. After the Viking
missions, Mars Express is building today's legacy of Mars imagery for
present and future generations of scientists.

Thanks to the extension, Mars Express will also be able to study for a
second year the way the atmosphere varies during different seasons, and
to observe again variable phenomena such as frost, fog or ice.

Finally, Mars Express will be able to revisit those areas where major
discoveries, such as new volcanic structures, sedimentary layering,
methane sources, nightglow and auroras, have been made, thus allowing to
confirm and understand all aspects related to these discoveries.

Notes to editors:

ESA's Mars Express mission was successfully launched on 2 June 2003 from
Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on board a Russian Soyuz rocket with a Fregat
upper stage. Besides being Europe's first mission to Mars, Mars Express
is the first fully European mission to any planet.

Following the Mars Express spacecraft commissioning at Mars in January
2004, most experiments on board began their calibration and testing
phase while already acquiring scientific data. This phase lasted until
June 2004 when all the commissioned instruments started their routine
operations. The MARSIS radar antenna deployment was postponed for
technical reasons until May 2005, and it became operational in July 2005.

Further to providing an impressive wealth of scientific results on its
own, Mars Express has also successfully co-operated with NASA's Mars
Exploration Rovers, in terms of co-ordinated scientific observations and
to test Mars Express in relaying the rover data to Earth. Further
scientific collaboration between Mars Express and both rovers and Mars
Odyssey is expected during the remainder of the nominal mission and the
extended mission, and with NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission
during the extended mission.

For more information:

Agustin Chicarro, ESA Mars Express Project Scientist
E-mail: agustin.chicarro @ esa.int

Fred Jansen, ESA Mars Express Mission Manager
E-mail: fjansen @ rssd.esa.int

More about...

* Looking at Mars
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/index.html
* Mars Express factsheet
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM75G1A6BD_index_0.html
* Orbiter instruments
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Exp...C75V9ED_0.html

Animation

* See stages of MARSIS deployment
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Exp...IC2DU8E_0.html

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IMAGE CAPTIONS:

[Image 1:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMUB08X9DE_index_1.html]
Mars Express in orbit around Mars with the MARSIS antenna unfurled

[Image 2:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMUB08X9DE...html#subhead1]
This close-up view of the Martian north polar ice cap shows layers of
water ice and dust for the first time in perspective view. Here we see
cliffs which are almost 2 kilometres high, and the dark material in the
caldera-like structures and dune fields could be volcanic ash.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

[Image 3:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMUB08X9DE...html#subhead2]
The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS)
on board ESA's Mars Express will employ ground-penetrating radar to map
underground water (if it exists) on Mars.

Low-frequency waves will be directed towards the planet from a 40-metre
long antenna which will be unfurled after Mars Express goes into orbit.
The radio waves will be reflected from any surface they encounter.

In most cases this will be the surface of Mars, but because low
frequencies are used, a significant fraction will travel through the
crust to encounter further layers of different material -- perhaps even
water.

Analysis of the echoes produced will reveal much about the composition
of the top five kilometres of the crust.